Tag Archives: basis

Ernesto is in sunny Austin for SXSW, so I’m filling in to gather this week’s articles and links for your reading pleasure.

Articles

Apple ResearchKit concerns, potential, analysis by MobiHealthNews. ResearchKit was a big surprise coming out of Apple’s Special Event this week. It was quite difficult to select just one representative article about the ensuing conversation, so this round-up serves nicely.

The Electric Mood-Control Acid Test by Kevin Bullis. Thync is a sort of evolved version of a transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) device. A technology with a lot of potential and controversy, this article explores why the brain-enhancing effects of the TDCS only work for some people. By the way, if you are a fan of Philip K. Dick, Thync may remind you of the mood organ that was in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Automated Learning by Nichole Dobo. Some school classrooms are experimenting with ”Blended learning”, a method of combining classroom teachers and computer-assisted lessons. A detail that stuck with me is the description of three large displays that show where each student is supposed to go that day, based on the results of the previous day’s lesson.

The Mouse Trap: Can One Lab Animal Cure Every Disease? by Daniel Engber. An in-depth how science’s predominant use of lab mice could be limiting our knowledge of disease. Of relevance to self-trackers because many models of optimal health are in part based on mouse studies.

Notes on 416 Days of Treadmill Desk Usage by Neal Stephenson. The author of Snow Crash and The Cryptonomicon is a long time user of a treadmill desk, but when he began having pain in his left leg, he had to reevaluate how he used his favored tool.

Gordon Bell has been involved with self-tracking for over a decade. From his ground-breakign MyLifeBits project to his popular book on the possibilities of a fully digital life he is constantly thinking about new ways we can understand ourselves through the data we collect. We are always excited to see him at our QS events and were especially happy to have him reach out to us about presenting at our last Bay Area QS meetup.

Gordon Bell’s HR data from a day he visited with his lawyers. Note the spike during the meeting in the morning.

Gordon has experienced two heart attacks, one in 1983 and another in 1996, two double bypasses, and currently is living with his third pacemaker. It probably isn’t surprising given his medical history that he has a keen interest in understanding his heart. In this talk Gordon describes what he’s been learning from the data collected from his pacemaker and the 320 days of heart rate and activity data he has collected with his Basis watch.

Bob Troia was interested in his blood glucose. While he’s not a diabetic and he’s not out of range, he wanted to see if he could lower his fasting glucose levels. He started a long-term tracking experiment where he tested his blood glucose and began to explore the effects of supplementation and lifestyle factors. In this talk, presented at our 2014 Quantified Self Europe Conference, Bob talks about his experiment and what he learned from analyzing his data. Make sure to read his take on what he did, how he did it, and what he learned below.

We also asked Bob to answer the three prime questions:What did you do?
After learning via my 23andMe results that I had an elevated risk for Type 2 diabetes (and having an interest in the longevity benefits of maintaining low blood glucose levels), I began tracking my daily fasting glucose and the effects that diet, exercise, supplements, and stress have on glucose levels so I could take whatever steps I needed to proactively understand, control, and optimize it.

How did you do it?
Over the course of 7 months, each morning I would take a fasting glucose reading using a handheld glucose meter. After establishing a 30-day baseline of daily fasting glucose readings, I began to take supplement called oxaloacetate. It’s been shown to lower and more tightly regulate fasting glucose by mimicking the effects of caloric restriction. It’s a naturally occurring compound found in lots of foods, such as spinach, potatoes, or apples, and it’s as safe as Vitamin C. After several weeks, there was a noticeable improvement in my average values! I then started looking at day-of-week trends in addition to how exercise (in my case, playing soccer) and other things such as travel affected my glucose.

What did you learn?
I learned that I could indeed improve and better stabilize my fasting glucose levels using oxaloacetate – but only in conjunction with intense, interval-type exercise like soccer. My average fasting glucose levels are highest on Mondays (stress of a new work week) and lowest on the weekends. Long airplane travel can adversely effect my glucose levels for several days. Surprisingly, alcohol consumption did not have an effect.

Vivienne Ming is an accomplished neuroscientist and entrepreneur. When she’s not conducting research or working on new ideas she’s busy taking care of her son Felix. Two years ago Felix was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Vivienne and her partner tackled his diagnosis head on and started tracking everything they could. In this talk, presented at the 2013 Quantified Self Global Conference, Vivienne explains what they’re learning together.

We’ll be posting videos from our 2013 Global Conference during the next few months. If you’d like see talks like this in person we invite you to join us in Amsterdam for our 2014 Quantified Self Europe Conference on May 10 and 11th.

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